At least 30 people have been killed and over 100 injured in an Israeli airstrike on a school in Deir-al Balah, central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The Israeli military it had launched the strike in order to destroy a Hamas command and control center inside the compound.
Most of the victims from the school arriving to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the aftermath of the attack were women and children, according to Dr. Khalil Al-Daqran, a spokesperson for the hospital. More than 4,000 displaced people were housed in the school, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.
The strike came soon after Israeli’s military issued fresh evacuation orders further south, in the city of Khan Younis, where Israel launched a fresh offensive earlier in the week which has killed dozens of Palestinians.
Residents in southern neighborhoods were told to leave after being warned that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would “forcefully operate” in the area.
Fighting has been ongoing on Gaza for months, and the renewed offensive shows Israel’s challenges in achieving its goal of eliminating Hamas. Israel said that about 100 militants had been killed during recent fighting.
The United Nations estimated that about 150,000 people fled Khan Younis on Monday alone, intensifying pressure on meager supplies of food and water, and places to seek shelter.
Signaling another campaign was imminent, the IDF wrote on Telegram it was “about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the southern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi.”
The statement said the move was in retaliation to “significant terrorist activity and rocket fire” emanating from southern Khan Younis. It added that the location previously defined as a humanitarian area “will be adjusted.”
Al-Mawasi has come under repeated Israeli attacks, including a strike on July 14 which reportedly killed 90 people and injured 300 more.
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza on October 7 after Hamas attacked southern Israel. At least 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 others abducted, according to Israeli authorities.
Israeli military action in Gaza has since killed 39,090 Palestinians and injured another 90,147, according to the Ministry of Health there. As of early July, nearly 2 million people had been displaced in Gaza – almost the entire population, according to figures from the UN.
Aid agencies working in Gaza have warned previously that new rounds of evacuation orders are making the delivery of emergency rations even more difficult.
“People in Gaza are exhausted, living in inhumane conditions, with no safety at all,” the UN Relief and Works Agency posted on X on Monday.
On Thursday, the IDF said it had recovered the bodies of five Israeli hostages the previous day from a tunnel in an area of Khan Younis which it had previously designated as a “humanitarian area.”
Despite the fighting, US and Israeli officials expressed optimism this week over the possibility of a ceasefire and hostage deal being reached.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the different parties are “inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line.”
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would likely dispatch a negotiation team to talks in Rome next week.
Netanyahu was in Washington this week and met with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, who urged him to seal an agreement.
“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done,” said Harris. “So to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.